RM Friends Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 2

1,000,000th specimen

The RM will be mounting specimen number Apparently, Dr. Hebard did not let the 1,000,000 in January! The specimen selected sentimentality of schoolchildren dissuade her, is a linariifolia ( Indian and the state legislature adopted Castilleja paintbrush) collected by Curator Ernie linariifolia as the state in January Nelson in 1993, in Lincoln County. The 1917. mounting will occur during the January Wyoming Indian paintbrush has another, Board of Trustees meeting, and will feature older connection to Wyoming: the species was our own Madison Dale, wielding her skills described by George Bentham in 1846 from a before the illustrious audience. Once the glue specimen collected in 1842 by John Fremont, is dry, this honored specimen will be framed with locality identified only as Wyoming; for permanent display; its first public Rocky Mountains. appearance will be during the Millionth The millionth specimen is one of 17,446 Specimen Event. Stay tuned for more collected during an inventory of the Salt information on this spectacular event. River and Wyoming Ranges conducted by Ron Hartman and Ernie in 1992-93 for the US Forest Service. Ernie was assisted by his son Russ, about 12 at the time. According to Ernie, Russ feared being captured by “werevoles” during this trip. Fortunately, he escaped every time; unfortunately, he failed to collect a voucher, so that observation remains unverified. 1.https://www.netstate.com/states/symb/flowers/wy_indi an_paintbrush.htm. December 4, 2019

A bit more on the selected species and specimen: Castilleja linariifolia is, of course, the Wyoming state flower. Its range includes 11 western states, extending as far west as the Channel Islands. Wyoming is at the eastern edge of its range—in fact, Wyoming Indian paintbrush is not found in the eastern plains of Wyoming, nor in parts of the Bighorn Basin. To find out exactly where to see C. linariifolia in Wyoming, check out the RM RM Faces: Madison Dale database. Madison Dale came to RM from Laramie, Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard of the University where she has lived since she was small. Now of Wyoming, “a force to be reckoned with,” a UW student, she is majoring in Biology, proposed this species to be the Wyoming state with a Spanish minor. Her curiosity for flower, at a time when many states were different experiences brought her to the adopting flower symbols. Another UW person, Herbarium, where she asked to be a Dr. Aven Nelson, strongly opposed the volunteer mounter. It took little time selection because: Indian paintbrushes are before she was offered a job, and now, she not not common throughout the state; there are only wows everyone with her skill, she also too many varieties and only an expert can tell oversees the work of eight undergraduate them apart; they are parasitic, feeding on the volunteers. Things that Madison likes about roots of other ; there was no wide- working at RM: her coworkers, and helping to spread support for the plant; and the fringed reduce the backlog of unmounted specimens. gentian chosen by Wyoming schoolchildren And reduce the backlog, she has! We was a sentimental favorite.1 appreciate your dedication, Madison—thank you.

December 10, 2019